hey, lookin for a school that teaches C++

39 Replies - 9060 Views - Last Post: 29 October 2011 - 05:39 PM

C++ school

Posted 06 June 2008 - 02:05 PM

hey, in a couple of years I wanna go to school and learn advanced C++, but I don't know of any good schools and I hoped that any of you would know. I live in Norway myself and this country is completely lost on that part so I hoped to go to USA or England or any other english speaking country to educate. really hope you can help me out on this one, and fast plz, its a lot of stuff I have to check when I find the right school for me

Re: C++ school

Posted 06 June 2008 - 05:26 PM

Pretty much any uni that teachest CS that's worth it's tuition will teach you C++. Typically the course tracks runs C, then Java, and then C++. Most schools won't specifically teach C++, but you'll learn a lot of the concepts and pick it up as you go along.

Most people who are in the programming field seem like they are pretty much self taught, which could be a good or bad thing. You'll notice that most schools don't concentrate on any specific language, but they focus on data structures and concepts. You'll learn how to write compilers, operating systems, etc., and in the process you'll pick up C, Java and C++. Just be prepared to spend a lot of caffeinated nights freaking out over why that pointer you're setting causes your program to crash. Ha ha.

Hope that helps you out a bit. If you're looking for a specific school and you're willing to come over to our side of the pond, the University of Central Florida is excellent. That's the uni I'm in, and I really dig it there.

Re: C++ school

Posted 07 June 2008 - 12:29 AM

In smaller schools you will often find that the CS department chooses a language that they like most of their (beginner) classes to be in. For many schools this is Java.

You would really to do some research on a school to know what language it bases it basic curriculum off of. Not exactly in the brochure and if their web site says one thing it is sure to be out of date by at least 4 years.

Generally speaking you can get a pretty decent education learning just about any language. So I would not focus too much on a C++ curriculum. Heck MIT likes to start people off in scheme.

Once you know how to program, learning and working in a new language is not very hard.

Re: C++ school

Posted 08 June 2008 - 11:57 AM

so what you guys say is that I should look after schools that teaches programing not one speific language? And then learn some of everything and that get a ground standing for learning C++ and then learn C++ and spare time and some in class?

and what I was looking for was a university that is quite big and hopefully in a warm place, I hate the winter and snow like hell....And I have been born in Norway :S (buhu)

And I also wanted to know if I need my third year and upper secendary school or whatever you call it, couse I only wanna do the two first and get a education in media and comunication and then move on and get away from this freaking place....

Re: C++ school

ok, maybe I will get more answers by asking what kind of school or what school I should go on to learn about Game design and programming?

If you're looking to specifically study Game Design, some universities offer a course track concentrated on that. You can also check out a whole bunch of tech schools that provide degrees in Game Design. If you're in the States you can check out the conglomerate schools like ITT Tech and Devry, though I haven't heard a whole lot about how their programs are. There are also more specialized schools like Full Sail where I'm at, or Digipen in the north west.

However, I do want to give you a fair warning about Game Design degrees. Make sure you get your degree from an accredited college. That's very important, or else your degree won't be worth crap. Also, realize the fact that a Game Design degree is not a Computer Science or IT degree. If you decide not to go into the game design field you may find you have some trouble finding a job that recognizes the Game Design degree. Finally, make sure game design is what you really want to do. I'm not talking about this year, or next year, but think 10, 20 years down the road. If you think you might want to switch fields and do something else with software, you might be better off with a Computer Science degree. Most companies that hire game programmers look for a CS degree anyway.

That's a final point I'd like to make. Remember that designing games isn't just a drag and drop process. There's a lot of hard work that goes into creating rendering engines, physics engines, game play mechanics, etc. They are very math intensive. If you're looking for a GD degree, make sure that you find one that really stresses the math. Also, make sure you research all your schools thoroughly. Talk to students who went there, and find people who graduated. How was their job placement program? Did they learn anything that was useful in the field? Most of these schools are much more expensive than a University, so you want to make sure you get your money's worth.

Jesus that was a long entry. Sorry for the length, I should've just turned it into a blog post. Ha ha. Hope all that helps. Also, feel free to PM me or IM me on AIM. My screen name's in my profile. It's easier to just contact me directly than for me to have to pay attention to all the different threads. Good luck.

Re: C++ school

Posted 14 June 2008 - 09:00 AM

thx, that really helped, going to take a look on what u said and look for some schools and talk to the ppl that is education there and the ppl that have graduated maybe I'll find something. And btw, I think I'm going to study in the states however I live in Norway at the moment going to live in the states a few years or maybe forever after I'm done with school here, so were the school is in the states dosent really matter to me

Re: C++ school

Posted 14 June 2008 - 09:27 AM

Fireplay, on 14 Jun, 2008 - 12:00 PM, said:

thx, that really helped, going to take a look on what u said and look for some schools and talk to the ppl that is education there and the ppl that have graduated maybe I'll find something. And btw, I think I'm going to study in the states however I live in Norway at the moment going to live in the states a few years or maybe forever after I'm done with school here, so were the school is in the states dosent really matter to me

Well you had mentioned in an earlier post that you were looking for someplace warm, and Florida's about as warm as it gets. I've lived in Orlando for about 10 years now, and it's treated me pretty good. We have a great university, University of Central Florida, that I attend for IT. They're one of the top CS schools in the southeast states and have a very rigorous program. We also have one of the best programming teams in the country, and they place highly in international competitions. As I said, we also have a lot of trade schools down here, so if you're looking for a warm weather and good schools, this is the place to be. You might get more recommendations from everyone else on the forum as well.

Re: C++ school

Posted 14 June 2008 - 10:50 AM

Generally I would presue my B.S. or B.A in computer science. If after you have completed that you are still interested (many many many students who *thought* programming games would be fun decide that it is not) then use your graduate work to specialize in game design.

Why not just go to ITT? Well, you can, and you can be successful -- but don't we all want to innovate. To take the field to the next level? If you go the ITT rout then you will end up a Jr Developer/code monkey working on building a game off of some preexisting framwork (which the school will familierize you with which is pretty cool... but don't be too tempted). -- You will get right into the mix which is pretty fun and exciting.

On the other hand, if you take the slower, harder, more education route then you will probably end up working on designing those game frameworks that the ITT kids get paid peanuts to work on. If you really want to be on the cutting edge, and really want to be innovating the field then get your CS degree and a Masters (and even a PhD).

Re: C++ school

Posted 14 June 2008 - 11:32 AM

Yeah I agree. I work in a lab at the college and all that grad students are doing Machine Learning. There are some really interesting problems that they're trying to solve. Right now we have an undergrad research experience program going on, so we have some undergrads doing work. One of the groups is working on developing a game with XNA, and learning about various algorithms and such while they're doing it. It's pretty neat stuff.

Head that advice about wanting to learn programming for games and not wanting to do it. I originally started writing Flash games to learn how to write programs, but I wound up specializing in web applications. Now I freelance almost full time and make decent cash doing it. It's a great way to make some money and wasn't at all what I expected to do. Just figure out what you're naturally good at and feed that part of your brain. Learn as much as you can about as many different areas until you feel like you know what you want to do. If you do decide to go the CS route, remember your first two years are just General Education requirements, so you have time to figure it out. If you do a tech school you really need to know that's what you want to do, because that's all they'll teach you.

Oh, and ITT/Devry people don't really get the great entry level jobs. Has anybody on this board attended either of those schools? What were your experiences?

Re: C++ school

Posted 14 June 2008 - 02:32 PM

hmm, I have thought of this all day and I'm pritty sure that this is the thing I wanna work with. I have tried to get my friends in to coding in C++ but they don't understand a shit and I have ended up working and practicing alone. They are to bad in math, I'm actully not a master in math myself, but I can remember numbers that I didn't even try to remember, and its not only numbers I got so sticky brain sometimes its freaky, but I have got a big use for it when I have been working with codes like HTML and C++. And C++ is probably the only thing in my whole life I acually got the thing for, I have got tired of everything else after a month or two but C++ is just remarkable and fun to work with. I still remember when I was a in 9th grade and hope to be a gaming programmer along with 2 or 3 other friends and I'm the only one of us left. They just grow up and thought that game programming is a job that only children dream of doing, but if its only children that dream of that, then I think I will live in a dream for the rest of my life